canadian shipping options for rock auto

[dlb]

the topic of rock auto's terribly high shipping costs to canada came up on here recently so i decided to write them and see what they had to say about it. got a decent response so i'm posting it here for anyone else interested. i wrote

hi, i live in canada and have bought things from rockauto a few times. i find the prices on most items to be excellent but the shipping costs to canada are prohibitively high. are there any better shipping options to canada available, or does rockauto have any plans to open a canadian warehouse? you better believe i would use rockauto a whole lot more in either of those cases.

and they replied

Hello,

Thank you for your question. We have recently added a consolidated freight shipping option for Canadian orders which is less expensive than FedEx ground. You'll see this option when you enter the parts into the shopping cart and enter your postal code.

We also have several Canadian warehouses in our network which ship a limited number of parts. The shopping cart will indicate if the part you're ordering will ship domestically in Canada.

Thank you,

Karl
RockAuto Customer Service

[marlinh]

Cool David, I will check them out now too for cheaper options.

[dlb]

have any canadian members received any expensive orders from rockauto? i'm curious about border fees on delivery. i have had them on a few cross border buys but not on the one small item i got from rockauto last year. i want to know what i should expect for extra fees.

also, i understand rockauto's new canadian shipping options. basically when you have some stuff in your 'cart', you will see which places the parts are being shipped from. if they are shipping from different places, it will be more expensive, so you want to find parts that are shipping from the same place. that means sometimes a more expensive part will equal a cheaper bill if it's coming from the same place as your other stuff.

[entrax]

Not sure if it helps, but I always ship to point Roberts and I go there to pick it up. it counts as inner 48 States and border agents don't charge me anything until about ~$350.

[dlb]

entrax, do you get it shipped to 'general delivery' in point roberts or do you have a mail box there?

[entrax]

i use tsbshipping.com

basically what you do is when buying something, you use your name, then the address, you put their address. when they get it, if you've signed up on their page, you will get an email.

you go there, you show your id, they look on their computer, okay you have 2 packages today, you pay the depot fees ($4 for most things), then they give you your items. just have receipts ready for the border guys as you have to claim how much is coming back

[dlb]

thanks for the idea entrax, i just used the same method but with a different company. being on vancouver island, it's cost prohibitive for me to drive onto the ferry so i can drive to port roberts, so i found a company in port angeles that does the same thing. this way i can walk on the victoria/port angeles, walk 2 blocks and pick up my stuff, and hop back on the ferry. really exciting because now i can buy some stuff i wasn't able to before, AND save on shipping! so thanks a lot for the idea.

here's the website of the company i'm using.

http://www.shipit2pa.com/

[4doorVIP]

dlb these guys are your best option imo
http://www.seawings.ca/

they ship direct to Vic air port from their blaine wa office.
I have never used them, but know a lot of people who have.. including big orders like crate motors


anywho I always just ship direct to my house from rockauto, shipping is ususally around $80 for a large box, but I get it within 4 biz days

[dlb]

man, i heard about their service but looked online and couldn't find anything. too bad because i already have a coolant system cleaning tool waiting for me in port angeles that i have to go pick up but i will definitely try seawings next time. thanks for the heads up.

[dlb]

i finally got all my stuff from rockauto, and it cost more than i had hoped. in canadian dollars:

2 new empire CV axles - $69 each
1 park brake cable - $19
shipping (including a $10 duty fee) - $100
gst/hst - $8
total - $265

rockauto listed those prices as being canadian funds but charged my credit card in US dollars. of course my credit card has a much crappier exchange AND charges 2.5% for the service, so the total i was charged was $280.

on top of that, i ordered all this stuff on jan 17. i received one CV on jan 26, another on jan 27, and the park brake cable just showed up today on feb 6. i am talking to RA's customer service right now because all items were listed as being at the same warehouse, which i figured meant i would receive all of them at once. and 3 weeks for one of the items is way too long, especially considering what i paid.

after this, i'll try to avoid rock auto orders in the future and stick with my local store.

[irowiki]

That shipping just seems crazy!

I hope the CV axles were plated in gold

[marlinh]

That's crazy David! Keep us posted on what happens. $100 shipping is outrageous! Why can't they ship everything at once if like you say everything was at the same warehouse.

[dlb]

i asked them that, marlinh. here is my convo with rock auto customer service.

me: i purchased 3 items partially based on the fact that were all listed as coming from the same warehouse. however, there is a significant delay between when i am receiving the items. one CV axle was delivered on jan 26, another CV axle was delivered on jan 27, and now it is feb 5 and i still have not received the park brake cable. so my question is: if all these items are coming from the same warehouse, why am i experiencing such varied delivery dates?

RA: The parts shipped from 2 different locations. If you check the tracking information we sent to you via email as well as our order status & returns page: http://www.rockauto.com/orderstatus, you will see all tracking information. The other part shows delivery of today.

me: i see that the parts shipped from two different locations. so when i paid for the parts, why did it list them as all being at the same warehouse? they were all supposedly at 'location A'.

RA: If you see any letter designation, that means there are multiple shipping locations. If items are coming from one warehouse, no letter notation will be present. For more information on combining shipping locations, please see this section of our RockAuto FAQ. We have a youtube video there, which is really helpful as well!

me: so even if ALL the items i order have the SAME letter designation, they may still be shipping from MULTIPLE DIFFERENT shipping locations? that doesn't make any sense to me.

RA: Sometimes we have to redirect orders (at our cost) to different warehouses if they are not available in the location we originally thought they were.

so basically, "them's the breaks" is the response i got.

i'm not impressed.

[marlinh]

How did they justify the $100 for shipping???

[jimcrazy]

if it came shiped ups to Canada you got off cheap at 100.00. I have seen 2 pound parcels come from state side with a 150-175 shipping bill.